Dio: How Can You See Him?! Clark!

"Dio." Luthor shook his head. "You can't do that."

Dio's smile froze on his face.

He stared at the little baldy in disbelief.

This kid actually knew how to refuse people now?

The young master who had once only followed behind him, asking questions about everything, seemed different from before.

Lex, I liked you better when you called me "sir."

"Tch. Boring."

Dio listlessly kicked at the weeds.

He looked up at the steadily rising sun, stopped, and turned around impatiently.

"I have things to do. Can you two stop following me?"

Clark scratched his curly hair, his blue eyes full of innocence. "But I don't have anything to do."

"As for me..." Luthor hesitated for a moment before saying, "I came here specifically to play with you, Dio."

That was a lie.

In truth, Luthor had only wanted to come to the countryside for some fresh air. Lionel had kept him cooped up at home until he could barely breathe.

But for some reason...

Here on this farm, perhaps because of the lingering shadow from last time, he could only feel a trace of safety when he was around Dio.

"Mm-hmm."

Dio studied Luthor thoughtfully, then took half a step back. The wheat around him stirred without wind.

"Then don't you two make a perfect pair?"

He flashed a sly smile.

"Clark, go play with Luthor."

"I have things to do."

Before he had even finished speaking, Dio's figure blurred for an instant.

"Wait!"

Luthor reached out to grab him, but caught only empty air.

There was nothing before him now. Only a few stalks of wheat swayed faintly, revealing the traces of someone passing through.

"Um... Clark?"

Luthor turned to the boy beside him in shock. "Where did Dio go?"

"And just now, I felt something..."

"What did you say, Lex?" Clark blinked, his gaze slowly shifting toward the depths of the cornfield.

"Over there." He pointed southeast. "Dio is probably about twenty meters away from us now."

"?"

Luthor stood on tiptoe, but all he could see was an ocean of wheat.

"How... I can't see anyone at all."

"My eyesight is pretty good, Lex." Clark rubbed his eyes, then excitedly grabbed Luthor's wrist. "Want to follow him and take a look?"

"But didn't Dio say—"

"Whoosh—"

"Wait! Slow down, my clothes!"

The oats flew past on both sides. The boy was astonishingly strong, and Luthor felt as though he were being dragged along by a tractor.

The noon sun dyed the river's surface gold.

Dio sat cross-legged on a smooth pebble, the blond hair at his forehead soaked with sweat and plastered against his pale skin.

His eyes were tightly shut, his red pupils moving restlessly beneath his eyelids.

The river looked calm, but under its surface, hidden currents churned. Deep in the riverbed, the blond boy diligently commanded The World to throw punches.

Every strike landed precisely on schools of fish drifting downstream, knocking them unconscious without killing them.

Of course...

Sometimes, when his hand slipped, the river ran red with blood.

"Hold on a little longer..."

Dio gritted his teeth, his temples throbbing.

The constant mental drain made his head feel as though it were splitting apart, and his breathing grew rapid.

"Bang!"

The World staggered, its fist brushing past the school of fish and kicking up a string of murky bubbles.

"Pant... pant..."

His hurried breathing startled the dragonflies by the shore into flight.

But...

"Accuracy has improved."

"But why can't I find that feeling?"

Dio sighed, deeply troubled.

Stopping time was still unreliable for him.

He had been sneaking here to practice behind Clark and his father's backs for quite a while now.

Yet he still could not find that feeling.

A few meters away, two little heads quietly poked out from the bushes.

"What is Dio doing?"

Confusion gleamed in Luthor's eyes.

Clark nodded, his eyes fixed beneath the river's surface.

"He's probably meditating." After a long while, he finally whispered, "Uncle Locke said that when you're stressed, you should sit down calmly and close your eyes. It helps you relax."

Before he could finish, Clark suddenly shuddered all over.

An invisible ripple spread through the surroundings. His vision blurred, and he suddenly saw a transparent figure charging toward them!

"Watch out!"

Clark instinctively grabbed Luthor to dodge, but then suddenly changed his mind.

He stretched out his hand toward the unseen attack.

"Bang!"

A muffled boom exploded through the air, and the invisible shockwave sent all the fallen leaves around them flying.

Luthor's tie was slapped against his face by the blast. He stared dumbfoundedly as Clark's palm hung in midair, as though it were bracing against some enormous invisible creature.

"Clark?!"

Dio by the river abruptly opened his eyes, his voice cracking. "How can you touch him?!"

Fallen leaves drifted down in a flurry, one brushing past Clark's eyelashes.

The boy first looked up at the tall transparent figure before him, then stared at his own palm in confusion.

"I... I don't know..."

All he felt was a strange lingering heat at his fingertips, like he had held a fragment of the sun.

It did not hurt exactly, but there was still a faint sting.

Dio staggered to his feet, and the two boys looked at each other across the distance.

Luthor froze for a moment, then instinctively shrank back.

Should I really be here?

He looked at the large tree nearby and silently swallowed.

Luthor regretted not being up in that tree.

A moment later.

"Dio, how many fish are there?!"

Looking at the fish floating up in the river, Clark swallowed. "How long would this last us?"

"Clark, they're only unconscious, not dead."

"And answer my question." Dio took a deep breath, his red eyes fixed on Clark. "You can see 'him'? Describe exactly what he looks like. What color is he?"

"Uh... uh..."

Seeing Dio expose his attempt to change the subject, Clark blinked and tried hard to remember.

"I can't see any color. I can only sense a vague outline."

He gestured with his hands. "About this tall, like... a transparent human shape?"

At that, Dio's tense shoulders relaxed.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed this big dummy was not a true Stand user.

"Then what about this power?"

Dio asked uncertainly, "When did you discover it?"

Could it be...

His heart jolted. Had Clark actually seen everything he did with The World?

"During that school bus incident."

Clark scratched his head sheepishly. "Back then, I felt a burst of power suddenly surge out of my body. But..."

"It seems like I can only use it when things are especially dangerous."

Then I'm relieved.

Dio stroked his chin thoughtfully.

It seemed Clark's ability, like his time stop, was unreliable.

For some reason, that discovery put him at ease—

At least this big dummy would not suddenly become stronger than him.

"Hey! You three!"

A sudden shout broke the silence.

The three turned to look and saw that Locke had found them. He stood on the ridge between the fields, waving at them.

"Come back and eat! Lunch is a feast!"

Hearing that, Luthor, who had been trying his best to make himself inconspicuous, felt as though he had been pardoned. He immediately nodded. "Then let's go back, Dio, Clark."

Clark stood up. "Dio, we—"

"Shut up." Dio cut him off. "You're not allowed to tell anyone about what happened today."

"Oh..."

Clark obediently nodded, then suddenly remembered something. "But Lex..."

"Lex." Dio smiled kindly. "You won't do that, right? We're friends."

"This is a secret between friends. You can't tell even your mom and dad, okay?"